Sustainable Bonanza » Technology

Fixed!

Kirsten — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 23:15:12 +0000

After months and months of troubleshooting why I couldn’t log into my blog to add or update anything -> It’s fixed!!!

Look forward to reading some of the posts that I’ve written while waiting and seeing updates all over the site.

In the Maasai Mara

Kirsten — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:17:17 +0000

Spending time in the Maasai Mara is amazing. You find yourself surrounded by lions, giraffe, zebra, and vast open stretches of land in a way not possible in the United States.

Despite the remote nature of this beautiful place, the Maasai people have made contact with the rest of the technological world. While the Maasai still dress in their beautiful bright clothing as they roam the land with herds of goats, sheep and cattle many of them also carry cell phones. While I was unable to determine whether this connection to the rest of the world was helpful or detrimental, I do know that i can now contact a wonderfully friendly man in his early twenties named ‘Dickson’ to chat.

While volunteering during a visit to Mara West, a side trip to the local Maasai village gave an inside view of the still viable semi-nomadic culture. The enterprising community which we visited or more like paid to visit gave us a warm welcome, a tour, and then laid out their hand crafted goods for sale. The community supports its chosen traditional lifestyle and a school for the village’s children with the proceeds from tourists. Who is behind this smart thinking? The college educated, handsome chief.

Yes, even after going to school and living with a ‘more civilized, modern’ group, traditional ways of life can be preferred. In this case traditional life has been bolstered by the knowledge gained.

The socially just internet. Oxymoron?

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:55:23 +0000

I am annoyed by the Internet and at the same time I am in lust. Like a troublesome boyfriend, the Internet seems to be the answer to so many problems – everything you need a few clicks away.

Today, the rush to get ‘online’ for organizations may very well be the difference between failure versus legitimacy and future success.

The biggest problem I see is that for the portion of our population with limited or no access, the Internet is not an answer.

Technologically, there is and will continue to be a separation between those who have and those who do not, like there is with salary. Each new innovation increases the knowledge gap that someone just becoming computer literate must leap. It may be instinctual to someone who has been immersed with computer use their whole life, but what about the urban and rural poor that have not? What about those who are older and just have never picked up the skill? What about those who have no need to use a computer for their livelihood? What is their right to have access to the same information?

Obama recognizes the need for transparency (BRAVO!!) with regards to the recovery work being done in America. To answer this challenge the administration has posted the information regarding this transparency online.

However, how do US citizens who are not computer literate access the same information?

Is the Internet just another form of oppression? This is a challenge that needs to be addressed. How do we make information accessible? Is a socially just Internet a potential reality?

I think a socially just Internet would look like something that used vacant storefronts to teach, entrepreneurs and volunteers to train passersby, engage the community and a general recognition that while some information should be available online we shouldn’t give up on the person to person connection that happens in a community.

What do you think?

Leveraging Technology to Change the World

Kirsten — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:28:29 +0000

Randy Paynter of Care 2 brings up a good point when he says that businesses no longer controls their brand or marketing. This is because of the increasing interactions and communications in the digital world which are not controllable by an organization. He points out that today’s purchasing habits allow consumers to access reviews and alternative products with just a few clicks. In the past glossy advertising guided the public perception of a product, but today consumers are no longer limited to canned marketing campaigns medium to inform their opinions.

Randy maintains that this massive shift in power from the seller to the buyer comes in part from the plethora of choices, thereby creating a commodity of any product. In order to achieve brand success he touts the importance of differentiating a product as well as influencing the conversations surrounding it. He suggests that we need to create and engage ‘fanatical evangelists’ to build and communicate brands online.
Listen to the full session here

Steve Newcomb has high aspirations. His company, “Virgance, is a startup incubator that finds great ideas and turns them into companies that change the world. Steve wondered if he could “break the rules and build companies that do good.” His commitment to 100% transparency puts him in front of the public so that they can ask any question about how business is conducted.

Steve has approached the idea of sustainability as he would any market sector and he sees the market opportunity as enormous. The change needed will require not a single Apollo-sized project by hundreds. Seeking to change the very nature of capitalism, Virgance companies adhere to five tenets:

“Cause as much direct and measurable change as possible.”
“Always use the carrot and never use the stick.”
“Use technology and the powers of social networks to get the job done.”
“Have business models that allow these businesses to be self-sustaining.”
“Try to involve and empower people to make the change.”

But the plenary wouldn’t have been complete without Malika Chopra, who began the session by guiding the SVN community in a beautiful mediation of gratitude, showing her heritage as the daughter of internationally renowned, Deepak Chopra. While her childhood exposure to the self-help arena and her presence around people who were on a journey of self-exploration, Malika’s early interests steered her to work for MTV initially. But it was while in Bombay that she had a change of heart after seeing a group of barefoot children huddled around a TV watching MTV. “Oh my God, what am I doing?” was all she could think and she decided to quit MTV the next day.

Today, Malika spends her time building a community on Intent, a sanctuary on the web for users to share their intentions and dreams with each other. Malika, a self-proclaimed “social media maven,” has a unique perspective on things because she is coming at it from the perspective of a mother and a woman.

Both Malika and Steve remind us that powerful movements and changes have been created through the use of blogs, Facebook and Twitter. Activities like ‘flash mobs,’ ‘tweet storms,’ and ‘carrot mobs’ can or have been used to create positive social change. The energy generated by this group’s discussion seemed to electrify the air, and that crackling interest will likely lead many of the participants to delve further into their own use of social media in order to create change.